I am remiss! I should have publicly congratulated my wife on her being sworn in as a US Citizen. That happened on Friday, April 7, in the Federal District Court in Tucson, AZ.

When she received the appointment date by email and snail mail, she said it felt like an anticlimax, and she wasn't excited about it.

When I agreed with that, I found myself in a bit of trouble! <Sigh>

Nothing much has happened since then, and life hasn't changed noticeably. Why would it? I did nearly all the work of getting her IR1 visa and then the citizenship application. I even attested that "nobody helped me to fill in this application form." Nobody did, but that's not what they meant by the question.  

The next challenge is to get a certified copy of her naturalization certificate, which we can send with a passport application. We don't want to let loose of the original. This turns out to be a bit complicated. In one place, we are advised that it is illegal to make a photocopy of the certificate. In another place, we are instructed to make a photocopy and bring that along with a passport application to some "acceptance" place where they will certify the copy and accept the passport application. There are two kinds of "acceptance" places; only one accepts the passport application. The other sort packs it up and mails it for you to the REAL acceptance office. That second sort of place cannot make a certified copy.

Does that sound like fun? Do you wonder why I refer to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) as a branch of the Gestapo? To describe them as arrogant doesn't begin to describe them. Dealing with them has been a hell that began in late November 2017 when we mailed her application from Taiwan. Most of the time was waiting for the backlog of work at every location where the application kept being transferred. There were so many different steps and each at a different location. 

Could we be through with those people? I sure hope so. I don't remember how I got my first passport in June of 1974. If I had to get a copy of my birth certificate, It should be somewhere here but WHERE?

I don't remember seeing that any time recently. Now, all I need when I renew my passport is my unexpired old passport. I keep my passport renewed because I don't want the hassle of starting all over again. My most recent passport is one I renewed in Taiwan, and I have used it ONLY to travel from there to the US and not since. I have used it to prove my eligibility to hold a job here, but that can be done with less than a passport.